This month, kindergartners step through the doors of their first big-kid school for the first time. This month, countless kids leave the safety and kinship of their elementary, middle, or high schools and are plunged into new places, systems, and communities. (This year, Jacquie’s granddaughter is making one of those big leaps. In August, she moved to a university in Alaska from the Pacific Northwest.)

It’s so exciting. But it can also be scary and lonely. The way to get through it is to remember that this is a time to be brave. 

All the dogs, all the time

National Dog Day is coming up on August 26 and we’re SO ready!

To celebrate, we’re offering 20% off ALL our dog cards through the end of August! No need for a coupon code, you’ll see the discount automatically applied at checkout.

We not only love our own dogs, but we love the idea of dogs, these sweet companions who make our lives better just by being there. There are so many lessons, so much to be learned from these friendly fellow beings.

You already know that our cards feature original images (no stock photos here—ever). But you may not know that each of our dog cards features an actual companion of someone in our families. So there’s a story behind each furry face.

SEE ALL OF OUR DOG CARDS

We ♥️ Rescues!

Jacquie and Sarah have a soft spot for rescue pups. Don’t get us wrong: we love the purebred pals in our families, too. But our mixed-breed dogs bring us a lot of joy and we’re glad we’ve been able to play a part in providing homes for some sweet, silly mutts.

You never know what you’re going to get with a rescue. They’re a little quirky.

Take Honey, Sarah’s dog.

She’s an even-tempered, stuffed-animal-like pet who loves to just be an adorable, low-maintenance companion.

Until UPS comes to the door: poor Honey is terrified of boxes. Which, for a shop dog in a business like Stonehenge that generates income by shipping orders all over the country, is a pretty significant hurdle. It’s like immersion therapy around here!

She’s getting better. Every time Sarah brings a new box into the office or her house, she lays out a trail of treats to encourage Honey to approach the box. She’s almost there. (She won’t eat the treat that’s sitting on the box. Not quite yet.)

We don’t mean to make light of this. Sarah knows that Honey’s reaction is a trauma response. Lucky for Honey, she has lots of people who love her to help her when she’s scared.

By the way, Sarah recently had a DNA test done on Honey and she is pretty much everything: 39% poodle, 14% chihuahua, 14% cocker spaniel, and 7% American Eskimo, with smatterings of Pomeranian, Shitzu, and many others. She’s a perfect mutt, through and through.

We immortalized Honey with her own card during our latest print run. You’ve got to order this one—look at that face!

Other All-Star Dog Cards

Sugar in the Sun

Sarah’s dog, Sugar, got a whole line of cards. (And yearly birthday parties, too.) This card captures Sugar’s sweetness and dogness perfectly. We love and miss her so. See the whole Sugar line here.  

Dog Paddle

This is Mick, one of Jacquie’s brother and sister-in-law’s many lovable golden retrievers. Such a good boy. He was lucky enough to swim in Lake Austin on many, if not most, of the days of his life. Sweet dog, sweet life.

Beach Reflections

Que (pronounced like cue) was the best-worst dog ever. He could jump five feet up from a standing position (to see out the window at the top of the door), punch his paw through a plate glass window and live to tell about it, and steal food from the tallest of counters. Que left us this year and do we ever miss this naughtiest love bunny. Here he is at the beach back when Sarah’s daughter was just a toddler, trying to keep up.

Overachiever

In Jacquie’s son’s and daughter-in-law’s house, they have a big collection of sticks that Zoe brought home throughout her life. She loved a good stick. (There were so many to find!) She loved her people. And she was probably the most obedient dog ever. 

Once, Steve left a steak dinner on the coffee table to grab a phone call and when he came back 15 minutes later, having forgotten that he’d left it out, Zoe was still sitting there quietly—the dinner still intact. What a dog. What a friend.

Linden

Jacquie’s daughter and her family adopted Linden about 10 years ago. Even though he was almost a year old, he hadn’t been introduced to stairs yet. And he wasn’t pleased with the hard floors in the kitchen and bathroom. 

When the family uncovered the hardwoods in a nook off the living room, he promptly stopped going in there. Well, more accurately, he’ll walk through it but he won’t stop. It doesn’t matter that he loves his ball almost as much as his dinner: if the ball rolls in there, it’s dead to him. 

Ladybird

Ladybird is a true rescue. Jacquie’s brother and sister-in-law brought her home after someone they knew found her on a farm, dangerously thin and in dire need of care. Once she was healthy again, she liked to escape and lope around the neighborhood, taking in the Texas air. She left this world last year, leaving a giant bloodhound-sized space on the couch behind. Sweet Ladybird, we miss you so. So much to love.

Beachcombers

A few years after Jacquie’s first dog, Heidi, died, she brought home Alex from the pound (as a surprise!). He used to run a circuit around the first floor that included a flying leap off the back of the family room couch. Alex barked a lot (he had a lot of terrier in him), trotted happily around the neighborhood on his daily walks, and really, really loved the beach. 

Who’s your best dog friend?

Have any too-cute-not-to-share photos of your dog? Send them our way! We always love celebrating our loyal, furry friends. 

SEND US A PICTURE OF YOUR POOCH!

Hello, dear Stonehenge friends!

We’re excited to let you know that 12 new designs for our Special Occasion line are printed and ready for you to order! Featuring images from Jacquie’s travels last summer, 2 designs from a new Portland artist, and art from Stonehenge’s youngest featured artists yet, this round of new designs has something for everyone.

This batch includes 6 birthday cards, 2 celebration cards (for graduation or retirement), 1 thank-you card, 1 anniversary card, and 2 sympathy cards.

We’re so excited to be able to offer you a dozen brand-new designs to show your people some love.

See all 12 new designs here!

Some highlights on our new card release

Mountain Stream

Jacquie took this photo on a hike in Alaska with Nadia, her granddaughter, last August. It was a special trip on its own: Nadia chose the destination based on nothing but a desire to see this part of the world. The two of them explored nature on trail hikes, checked out a muskox farm, got to know Anchorage, and played each other their favorite music as they drove around in a rental car.

The trip also turned out to be a bit of a premonition. Last winter, Nadia decided to attend college in Alaska. This August, she’ll launch her adult life up in Fairbanks. Wish her luck! And wish your own people luck as they embark on their special journeys.

Tulips Galore

We can’t resist tulips! Jacquie took this photo at the height of the season and, honestly, we can’t get enough of these rich colors. We think this card is the perfect way to say “happy birthday” to any of your beloved ones.

Besties

Sarah’s kids have made yet another appearance on a card! This time, they’re splashing in the waves of the Pacific Ocean. This one’s a birthday card to give to a friend or family member you love having in your life.

We, of course, love the cards with our pets and kids on them. But our decision to make their images into cards goes deeper than a parent’s love.

By printing cards with images that are personal to us, we also give you a window into the Stonehenge world. Stonehenge is officially the two of us. But it’s not just the two of us. “We” are our kids, our friends, our families, our neighborhoods, and our greater community.

Sarah’s girls are a part of it. They did online school here throughout the pandemic, have spent many after-school and weekend hours in the studio, and now they’re official contributing artists. (Click here and here to see the cards they created.)

Our partners, Pat and John, are a part of it. They both move boxes, help us reorganize the storage room, hang pictures, and act as sounding boards when we’re working on something new or dealing with the many twists and turns that happen when you run a small business.

Our friends are part of it. They listen, offer ideas, proofread, promote our cards, and celebrate with us.

And YOU are a part of it! We are honored to do business with such fabulous people. THANK YOU!

Our luck isn’t lost on us. Because of this wider “we,” the two of us get to continue this work. We’re not in this to make our fortune, but in a way, we have—and do—every day. This business is a sustaining lifestyle. It’s a way to love and respect one another and the world. It’s doing something we care about with our time and providing people with a positive way to love and respect their people.

These are some of the reasons why doing business the way we do is important to us. We hope you feel that way about the work you do too. Let’s spread lightness and joy!

Warmly, Sarah and Jacquie (and Honey)

We love May and June. It makes us hopeful to think about the thousands and thousands of young people who are launching their adult lives.

So many of them are already rooted in kindness, compassion, and fairness. And, despite the urgency out there, they maintain a sense of joy and optimism. It’s inspiring.

Send your favorite graduate off with a paper embrace and best wishes with one of our graduation cards.

Can’t decide? These are some of our favorites:

New Horizons

“Throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!" — Mark Twain

On the Move

“Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way!" — Dr. Seuss

Pomp

“Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.” —Minor Myers

Ready To Go

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” — Dr. Seuss

Transitional times call for perseverance, collectivity, hope, and beauty.

At Stonehenge, we’ve been thinking a lot about transitions over the past few weeks.

Transitions that signal a new, exciting phase in our lives, like graduating or retiring.

Transitions that tear at our hearts, like loss or tough times in our personal lives.

Transitions that defy categorization, like the loss of autonomy or stability on a personal or public scale.

As women who operate our own small business, we sometimes feel like we’re in tune with all of these transitions at once. As if transition is a state of being instead of an exceptional circumstance.

Women are leaders, caregivers, workers, parents, guides, cooks, listeners, shoppers, planners, cleaners, meditators, mediators, problem-solvers, friends, visionaries, and more, more, more. We will always support women, the things they pursue, and the decisions they make every day to live and to thrive.

If you know a woman going through some kind of transition today, send her a note of encouragement, congratulations, or support to let her know you love her and have her back. We certainly have yours.

With love and solidarity and joy,

Jacquie & Sarah

All the beautiful spring things

The other day we were talking about spring and Sarah said, “It’s my very, very favorite, favorite time of year!” Suffice it to say, we are giddy. 

Blooms. 

Mild walks along the river. 

Spring light in the garden. 

Jacquie loves the changing light, the gloom lifting, and her garden coming to life, plant by plant. Last year she took her calendar and wrote down the date that each plant started blooming, day by day. 

This year, that calendar is like a time map: she can follow along as everything pops up in order. The dafne. The daffodils. The currant outside her kitchen window. 

The garden is grounding. In a literal way, first. But also psychologically. It’s a comfort to watch each plant bud and bloom, according to its own schedule. 

Maybe that’s why so many of our cards feature flowers: They’re both ephemeral and everlasting. We simply never get tired of the seasonal rhythm: the anticipation, enjoyment, and memory flowers evoke for us all.

Speaking of, Sarah and her girls went down the waterfront several weeks back and beheld, along with what seemed like everyone in the greater Portland area, the cherry blossoms. 

It was a scene—in the best way possible. Loads of people were wandering under the trees. And there were countless photo shoots going on. Pregnancy photos, engagement photos, and even a photographer capturing a quinceañera. Everyone was happy. What gorgeous memory-making.

After the cherry blossom walk, they visited a favorite Greek food cart, one that’s been in the same spot with the same menu for 17 years. Like the blooms, we all just keep doing what we do best, year after year. 

That includes Stonehenge. Read below for some more about what we’re doing over here in our pretty little studio. We have some new cards coming out soon. (Stay tuned.) In the meantime, scroll down to see a collection of some of our favorite springtime cards plus details about our new porch pickup option!

We hope you feel like you’re in a good life rhythm this spring. Thank you for supporting our business and for being part of our wide and wonderful circle. 

Jacquie & Sarah

Birthday kittens + blooms for Mom

Our social media feeds are full of fuzzy, adorable spring animals. The other day we saw a video of a baby duck snoozing in the sun that we probably watched 10 times on a loop. (What else could we do??)

We do baby animal adorableness pretty well ourselves, along with flower cards just for Mother’s Day (coming up on May 9).

Here are a few of our seasonal favorites:

Bookends

Sarah’s kittens, Lily and Buttercup, have grown up around books. If you have a kitten-loving, book-loving friend with a spring birthday, this is just for them.

Snuggles

What more could you—or anyone—want other than ridiculously cute snuggly kittens? This card features Lily and Buttercup entwined in best-friends bliss. Another birthday card for your cat people.

Calico

Okay, we actually have another kitten birthday card for you. Sorry, we couldn’t resist giving you a peek.

Summer Snow

Even though it’s not summer yet, this Mother’s Day card has all the brightness of spring going for it. Plus, it’s definitely time to start looking for a card for your mom.

Flowers for Mom

These lavish sprays of flowers are just for your mom. This Mother’s Day card tells her, simply, that you appreciate her love.

SHOP NOW

Porch pickups

Are you local to the Portland area? If so, you can now swing by to pick up your cards in person. 

Enter the code PORCH when you order we’ll waive the shipping fee and leave your order on our porch. If you have a sec, drop in to say hello!

It’s Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, the ultimate love-with-a-capital-L holiday. But every time February rolls around, we find ourselves feeling a little hesitant about it. Both of us have been lucky in love—and when we look at everything in the rearview mirror, sometimes not so lucky. Can you relate? We think most people can. 

We both feel deeply grateful for our partners. (They’re awesome.) But we also feel deep gratitude for our friends, our kids and grandkids, special neighbors that make our lives brighter, our pets. Love is anything but one-dimensional. 

Why not celebrate all of this? Why not throw all the love we give and receive into a giant bottle, shake it up, and let it flow? Why not fling big, messy ribbons of love to the sky? Tell everyone you love them that you love them. Period. No need to make it only a romantic thing. Connection and collective joy is something big and beautiful. Let’s celebrate that. 

If this resonates, we have cards for you. Lots of them. Cards that celebrate a romantic partnership. Cards that tell a friend they’re the best. Cards that are like paper snuggle for your kids, your mom, your co-worker. 

These cards don’t say “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Because they’re more about widening our sphere of love, no matter what’s happening on the calendar. We like to call them our just-because-love cards, good to send on any occasion or no occasion to the people who matter most. Here’s a list of the ones that come to mind for us first. You can also browse all our love cards. 

With that, a happy Valentine’s Day to you and all of yours!

Fondly,

Jacquie and Sarah

Check out some of our favorites!

Our new greeting cards are out. We’re so proud of this batch. There are cards for fans of cat snuggles, sweet moments between friends, flowers in anticipation of spring, and our second-ever celebration of retirement. 

Check out all of the new designs HERE!

We spent hours looking for just the right quotes to pair with these timeless images and found what we consider to be some of the best yet.

We hope you’ll find them just as enchanting and hopeful as we do. Always—despite everything—our world and lives are dotted with moments of felicity and enchantment, gifts from the earth, and people we adore. We hope these greeting cards help you embrace all of these good things and send encouraging words to the people in your life. 

Here’s our new lineup:

Summer Snow

As Jacquie was walking down to the river one day late last April, she came upon this incredible pink commotion. She’s lived in this pocket neighborhood for many years but has never seen such a thick blanket of blooms before. A cherry blossom cloak to herald the spring!

Chosen Family

Sarah’s girls and their best friend, the daughter of a lifelong friend of Sarah’s, had their very own pandemic camp last summer for two days each week. They swam, hiked, crafted, visited a farm, went on treasure hunts, and lots of other activities. They even had a special name—complete with T-shirts! This photo was taken a few years ago during one of many sweet moments with, as they call themselves, chosen family.

Midnight Reading

Over a year ago, Sarah’s then-kitten, Lily, popped up on her lap to, apparently, read the story along with her. She was into everything, all the time. Including her sister, Buttercup. The two are thick as thieves; Sarah often finds them nestled together, like they’re waiting for a bedtime story. In fact, another new card features one of their snuggles!

Canterbury Bells

Jacquie took many photos in Boston Commons during her trip with her daughter last summer. These particular flowers are special, though, because they grow across the walkway from a statue of Jacquie’s great-great-grandfather, which stands at an entrance to the gardens. The entire trip was an homage to this side of her family, one full of artists, writers, architects, and thinkers. She loves knowing that generations of people enjoyed the same beautiful things we do.

Autumn

Kate, a dear friend of Sarah’s, snapped this shot at her family’s cabin at Cream Hill Lake in Connecticut. We like imagining the many conversations that have happened beneath these million leaves. This card celebrates retirement in the most peaceful way possible. Wouldn’t you like to retire here, too? 

Snuggles

Lily and Buttercup: the picture of candid affection. Sarah and the girls adopted the two when they were just eight-week-old kittens and the bond between them was pretty much immediate. They often find them just like this, tangled and content. They remind their family—and all of us—that there’s no shame in loving and needing another. 

Perhaps we’ll be saying this every December for a while but...friends, what a YEAR.

It’s dizzying to think back to where we were a year ago: no vaccines, restaurants closed up, our customer base of bookstores and boutiques barely scraping by, distanced outdoor get-togethers in the cold. So much has happened. 

What happened with Stonehenge

Our PPP loan helped us emerge from the Covid bunker. And all of you—customers, reps, friends, and collaborators—helped Stonehenge survive and grow. Our gratitude will never feel wide and deep enough to hold every online order, compliment, and kind word we’ve received over the past year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Our focus this year was figuring out how to get back to business when so many of our stockists were closed or limiting their orders. This led us to ramping up our online shop, which is a big success! We’ve found a new group of customers who either don’t have access to Stonehenge cards in their communities or who prefer to shop online for health or other reasons. We love making connections with them and being able to offer our full range of cards to anyone, anytime.

A big moment for us was in August, when Sarah and Jacquie finally got to work in the office together again. During lockdown, we took turns going in to fill orders and keep the place running. But we missed being together. It didn’t feel like Stonehenge without the two of us. And it was hard. Think of us bundled and masked up on Sarah’s front porch with a laptop, trying to finalize new designs. We did it, but are we ever glad we get to collaborate inside and in person!

Independent bookstores are back! 

After 21 months in a pandemic, many of our favorite indy bookstore partners have opened up again. Thank goodness. We’re thrilled for the many communities that have places, once again, where they can browse titles and racks of cards to put together the perfect gift. 

We’re also delighted that, despite everything, new bookstores are still opening! 

Quail Run Books in Green Valley, Arizona is one of them. The owners are following a dream and bringing Stonehenge along with them—they have a great selection of our cards in the shop. Stop by if you’re in the area. 

Are there any new or open-again bookstores you love in your community? Drop us a line and tell us where you love to buy your books and cards!

What happened with us

This year, Sarah and her family:

• Adopted Honey!
• Bought a Toyota Dolphin and took it on some trips.
• Broke up the sibling rivalry by upending their home to give the girls their own bedrooms. (Covid definitely made THAT need clear!)
• Returned to a normal school experience and schedule.
• Got vaccinated!
• (Re)discovered the magic of Shrinky Dinks! They never, ever get old.

This year, Jacquie:

• Played piano and continued singing. Her backyard studio was a refuge, especially during lockdown. 
• Started taking French with one of her closest friends in anticipation of being able to travel again. Of all the places she’s visited, France really has her heart. 
• Started rehearsing with her community choir again, with her sweetheart and dearest friends. (They’re all vaccinated and wear special choir masks to stay safe while they sing.) 
• Studied her family’s genealogy and, because of her sleuthing, found and visited her great-great-grandfather’s house in Boston during a special trip with her daughter.
• Traveled with her grandson (to Chicago), and her granddaughter (to Anchorage) for GretaTravel Camp!

Thank you again for supporting us. Despite—or perhaps because—of everything, we are grateful for our health, our loved ones, and for everyone who made the world more tolerable, funnier, and more compassionate this year. That includes you. Thank you for linking arms with us.